If you're still a booty-shakin' thang, let me hear you holla

By ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, November 12, 2006

Everyone who showed up at the Paramount Theatre on Friday night was ready to go back in the day, back to when "Baby Got Back" made all the girls shake their thang, when the "Wild Thing" made all the fellas holla and when couples swooned to the ballads such as "End of the Road."

This was no old-timer's tour -- the crowd at the concert was probably mostly in elementary school when Seattle's own Sir Mix-A-Lot first popped onto the scene with "Posse on Broadway" -- but it was a tribute to the kind of music that Movin' 92.5 FM has brought back. The free concert featured an unlikely triple threat: Tone Loc, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Boyz II Men.

The radio station plays all three artists, and a lot more songs that trip the light nostalgia -- but in a good way. These were the hits everyone danced to in high school, middle school and even earlier for some precocious fans. This was old-school, done by the old school.

The roof, the roof, the roof was on fire. At least for a while. After some live YouTube-like poppin' and lockin' from a local dance crew, Tone Loc revved up the crowd. Hell, yeah. Tone's voice still sounds like a cat crawled up in there and stayed and the years haven't been kind to him, but the man still knows how to jam. Hell, yeah.

When he unleashed the first line of "Wild Thing" -- "Let's do it" -- the fans really did go wild. "It doesn't matter how old you are if you're pumping up the old school, " he said. He ripped through the always-crowd-pleasing numbers he's known for -- "Funky Cold Medina" and "Wild Thing" and also gave up a new joint using AC/DC's riff from "Back in Black."

Then Sir Mix-A-Lot took the stage with his posse, Maharaji sporting a "Save Our Sonics" T-shirt and adding his own theatrical accompaniment to Mix's muse. Fans embraced Mix, who gave them "Posse on Broadway," "Testarossa" and "My Hooptie" before bringing about 20 women onto the stage to back it on up during "Baby Got Back." It's a number he's best known for, but call him a one-hit wonder, like VH-1 did, and he throws down. "Before 'baller' was even a word, I had $4 million worth of cars," he said. "Before VH-1 was born, we did this," introducing "Posse."

Whereas those two lived up to the movin' part of Movin' 92.5, headliner Boyz II Men -- one of the best-selling R&B acts ever -- prepared everyone for a good night's sleep. They never sounded better -- even though there's only three of them now -- but after "Motownphilly," they went into ballad mode and never looked back. That suited plenty of people, who settled in for boy-band harmonies that still sound so sweet to the ear that if you have to have a lullaby, why not this?